How long does a hard inquiry stay on your credit report?

Two years. A hard inquiry -- the credit check a lender runs when you apply for credit -- stays on your credit report for about two years under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. But it typically stops affecting your credit score after about 12 months, and a single inquiry usually has a small effect to begin with. Soft inquiries, like checking your own credit or a pre-approval offer, are not visible to lenders and don't affect your score at all.

Of all the items on a credit report, a hard inquiry is the most short-lived — and usually the least worrying. The short answer is about two years on your report, but it generally stops affecting your score well before that, and a single inquiry rarely moves the needle much.

Two years on the report, about one year of score impact

A hard inquiry (also called a hard pull) is recorded when you apply for credit and a lender checks your report — for a credit card, an auto loan, a mortgage, or similar. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, that inquiry stays visible on your credit report for about two years.

The score impact is shorter and smaller. Most credit-scoring models only factor hard inquiries from roughly the last 12 months, so after about a year the inquiry is still listed but no longer drags on your score. And even fresh, a single inquiry usually has a small effect — far smaller than a late payment, charge-off, or collection. Inquiries become a bigger factor only when there are several in a short window, which can signal to lenders that you are taking on a lot of new credit at once.

Soft inquiries don't count at all

It is worth separating the two kinds of inquiry, because people often worry about checks that do not matter:

Hard inquiries happen when you actively apply for credit and a lender pulls your file. These are visible to other lenders and can have a small, temporary effect on your score.
Soft inquiries happen when you check your own credit, when a lender sends a pre-approved offer, or when an existing creditor reviews your account. Soft inquiries are not visible to other lenders and have no effect on your score. Checking your own report as often as you like never hurts you.

Rate-shopping windows protect responsible comparison

If you are shopping for a single loan — a mortgage, an auto loan, or a student loan — scoring models are designed not to punish you for comparing offers. Multiple hard inquiries of the same type within a short window (commonly 14 to 45 days, depending on the model) are typically treated as a single inquiry for scoring. So rate-shopping in a focused period is fine; it is spreading applications for different types of credit over many weeks that adds up.

When to be concerned about an inquiry

The one time a hard inquiry deserves attention is when you do not recognize it. An inquiry you never authorized can be a sign of identity theft or an application you did not make. Pull your free reports at AnnualCreditReport.com, and if an inquiry is genuinely unauthorized, dispute it with the bureau — disputing is free. Otherwise, there is no action to take: a legitimate inquiry simply ages off on its own. To see when your other items are scheduled to fall off, use the credit report timeline checker. Inquiries are a minor, two-year footnote next to the seven-year marks that actually shape your score.